I Wanna Wake Up Where You Are
by The Self-Proclaimed Book Whore
Summary: A series of non-related stories of how Merlin and Arthur get engaged/married. Mostly modern-Us. Merthur, (duh, that's knid of the whole point) various other minor parings. Chapter 1: FAT Night
1. FAT Night

**So, uhhh...**

 **I had the idea for this story and after I write I came up with an slightly different way it could have happened which turned into a story of its own and suddenly I had all these various ideas and it seemed a bit ridiculous to put them as separate stories so I decided to put them as a series of unconnected events. Each exists in it's own little universe unless stated, but that probably won't happen.**

 **This first one, the idea of a 'FAT Night' comes from a relatively newish Australian drama series called Wonderland. So the makers of that show own the whole 'FAT Night' concept. I don't own that any more than I do Merlin or those characters.**

 **PS. This chapter includes minor(ish) spoilers for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, read at your own risk.**

* * *

It was Arthur's turn for FAT Night.

FAT Night (or Food Appreciation Time) was a sacred and integral part of the week.

It was the one night were they would all, emergencies and outstanding occurrences excluded (there did happen to be a lot of those so times when everyone was there were actually quite rare), gather in one apartment and have dinner together. Of course it wasn't _that_ simple. There were rules.

 **Rule 1:** Turn Em' Off. Pretty much what it means and very simple. All phones are to be turned off and placed together and are not to be touched for _any_ reason until the owner is leaving.

 **Rule2:** No Cheating. Also pretty simple. Store bought=you're busted. If it's your night to cook then it has to be from scratch.

 **Rule 3:** Imagination. Not always followed to the extremes, but that's okay. As long as there's a little bit of individual creativity in what you make, then everything's fine. Just try not to go overboard ( _Gwaine_ ).

And finally;

 **Rule 4:** Voting. The Stomach Rules. Vote with how good the food was, nothing else. (Although that rule tended to be _bent_ sometimes.)

And tonight it was Arthur's turn.

This round was pasta; specifically, lasagne. Morgana, who had gone first, had made a vegetarian one which had ended up being mostly cheese. Gwaine had created a steak, potato and beer monstrosity that had been absolutely devoured. Leon had made an old family recipe and Merlin, bless his soul, had made a very weird desert lasagne.

Unfortunately Rule 2 meant that Arthur had to make his pasta from scratch. He had gone around to Gwen's several days ago to borrow her pasta roller and Arthur was sure the damned thing was evil. So far he had made three batches of pasta, the first he had thrown away after taking it out of the fridge (Arthur didn't even want to try and figure out why it was _blue_ ), there had been no point in even trying to roll it out, and the second had been so dry it had crumbled in his hands as he tried to roll it out.

This third lot seemed to be going okay but Arthur was moments away from using the ready made, dried sheets he had discovered in the back of the pantry.

It was just the pasta he needed to do. The béchamel sauce and mince was ready and waiting the cheese was grated and the oven was half-way heated.

One excruciating hour later Arthur slid the tray into the oven and slid to the floor, lightly hitting his head against the counter. The next person to suggest pasta for FAT Night was going to be decked, he decided.

Sighing he looked down at himself, he hadn't been this covered in food since the time he and Merlin had been snowed into their flat and had decided to bake cookies. Arthur smiled at the memory.

It had been the middle of winter and they had been snowed in. Arthur, who normally had to be dragged out of bed by Merlin, had woken up with Merlin in his arms as they lay in a cocoon of blankets. Alarmed, he had tumbled to the floor, taking the blankets with him, in his haste to get up. Merlin had yelped before tumbling after him and they had ended up in a very confused heap on the floor until Merlin had managed to explain that, after waking up and discovering their situation, he had phoned into both their jobs before crawling back into bed. After a lazy breakfast of maple syrup spiked coffee and waffles they had rearranged the furniture in the main room of their flat and built a fort of sheets and blankets. By the time they had gotten hungry again they were halfway into a Harry Potter marathon (Cedric was minutes away from dying) and it was dark outside. Once _Goblet of Fire_ had ended Arthur had set about making a stack of cheese and salami toasties while Merlin rooted around in the fridge and pantry, eventually dumping an arm load of flour, eggs, butter, sugar, vanilla extract and chocolate chips on the counter.

Merlin had grinned at Arthur, who had answered by shoving half a sandwich in Merlin's mouth. Once the stack of sandwiches had been finished they started on the cookies. Later they would both insist that the other had started it; but it had ended with four trays of deformed cookies, a dozen smashed eggs, one bag of exploded flour, the flat smelling as if the Marshmallow man had exploded in it and Arthur lazily licking a sugar and butter mixture off Merlin's collar bones (Merlin had already kissed the streaks of melted chocolate off Arthur's jaw) as they sat on the equally as dirty kitchen floor waiting for the cookies to bake.

That had been a good day (and night and a bit more of a day).

Arthur really wished Merlin was with him right now.

Merlin knew how to make pasta, more than that but if Merlin were with him Arthur could have dumped the rest of the flour on him and then they could have taken a shower together. Yes, Arthur thought, that would have been nice. There wasn't anything Arthur liked more than a wet, naked Merlin. Unless there was chocolate involved.

Slightly more cheerful in his day dream, Arthur only just noticed the knocking at the door. Assuming it was just Merlin back from wherever he had gone after running out the door that morning, Arthur didn't bother getting up.

"It's open, you idiot," he yelled, sneezing from the flour tickling his nose. "I was thinking, Merlin. We should have just enough time before anyone arrives, and I _did_ just create one amazing lasagne, so how about I throw the rest of this flour all over you and we go and recreate what happened that day we were snowed in and made cookies. I think we still have some off that chocolate flavoured lu…"

There was a strangled sort of snort and a muffled laugh and Arthur suddenly realised that instead of Merlin's clumsy footsteps (and possible thump of him falling over/walking into something), the door had opened to a pair of neat clicking, like heels on the wooden floor…

Face draining off blood, Arthur slowly got to his knees and tentatively poked his head up to look over the counter. "Morgana?" he squeaked noticing his sister, the owner of the muffled laugh. " _Hunith_!" his voice rose several more octaves as he saw his boyfriend's mum.

Hunith had an almost entertained smile on her face, more so because of Arthur's mortification rather than because of what he had been saying. But Morgana just grinned and stopped bothering to hide her amusement. "Oh, don't stop on our account, brother dear," her eyes were gleaming with laughter.

With a pitiful whimper Arthur sank back down to the filthy kitchen floor, drawing his legs to his chest and wrapping his arms around his knees.

Morgana cackled like the witch she is. Hunith giggled. Arthur buried his face in his knees and moaned.

There was more clacking and then Arthur felt a hand on his shoulder. Arthur raised his head just enough to see Hunith crouching down in front of him, a small smile on her face. "Everything alright, dear?" she asked.

Arthur scowled and began muttering about Merlin and evil pasta rollers and witches and…

Hunith nodded along before standing up and glancing over the mess that was Arthur and Merlin's kitchen.

"Up you get, Arthur," Hunith said.

Arthur stood up, his scowl now more a pout, because when Hunith used her 'mum voice' you did as she said, no questions asked. Only this time Hunith's mum voice was laced with something that screamed ' _oh you poor dear, let me mother you to death'_. No one could resist being mothered by Hunith.

Arthur let Hunith lead him from the kitchen and into the bathroom.

"Shower," she says, giving him a small nudge before turning away to rifle through his clothes.

Arthur showers all the while wishing Merlin were there too. Wrapped in only a towel and still dripping a bit he found that Hunith had laid out a set of clothes for him. Plain black pants and a bright red button down shirt that he may or may not have nicked from Merlin years ago which means its that little bit too small for Arthur but he really doesn't care.

Emerging from his and Merlin's bedroom Arthur finds that Gwaine and Percy, Freya and Lance and Gwen had turned up and had made themselves at home.

"Arthur," Gwen squeals upon seeing him. Jumping up from where she was sitting with Lance she pulled him into a giant hug. Arthur smiles, hugging her back and taking a deep breath of Gwen-ness. Not in a weird way or anything, because Lance and Gwen love each other very much and Arthur really couldn't survive without Merlin and in any case Gwen is like his sister, its just that Gwen is a baker and always smells like cookies and cupcakes and all things delicious.

By the time the lasagne is finished in the oven Uther, Elyan and Leon have turned up, the former with two bottles of something, and only Merlin, to Arthur's eternal despondency, is still to arrive. Putting the large lasagne tray in the centre of the table it is joined by the salad Arthur managed to throw together in between despairing over the pasta and some cheesy-garlic-herb-bread.

The front door opens with a small crash as Uther poured out some wine, and Arthur shakes his head as Merlin stumbles into the room.

"Sorry I'm late," he says, grabbing Arthur's face and giving him chaste kiss. Arthur almost whines audibly as Merlin pulls away to wrangle himself out of his coat but doesn't because everyone else is there and he's already made a complete fool of himself in front of Hunith and Morgana and he really isn't up for giving a repeat performance.

Dinner, as it always is, is a lively affair. Hunith and Uther spend a majority of it talking quietly about whatever it is that they talk about. Ygraine and Balinore, Arthur assumes, considering the same looks of love and longing on the 'parents' of their weird little group.

Ygraine, Uther, Balinore and Hunith had all been close friends in university so Morgana, Arthur and Merlin had grown up together. They had meet Lance, Leon, Elyan and Gwen in primary school while Gwaine, Percy and Freya had joined their oddball group in high school. While most still had parents alive, they weren't as close as Morgana, Arthur and Merlin were to theirs and, because it was just who Uther and Hunith were, they had sort of adopted their children's friends. Mostly it included giving advice (Uther) and mothering/somewhat obsessively feeding (Hunith).

Leon, who had been out of town for a week, kept an arm around Morgana, content to listen to his friends and hold his wife close. Gwaine and Freya got into another of their arguments over which Doctor was the best (Gwaine was all for David Tennant, the hair he argued, while Freya insisted upon Peter Davison, she had grown up watching reruns of classic Who) and, as he always did, Elyan pitched in with his opinion that Doctor Who was completely ridiculous and that Sherlock was better. That turned into a debate of which show was the best, Leon jumping to the Doctor Who side while Lance and Percy went to Sherlock's defence.

Thankfully, Arthur's lasagne went off quite well and soon they were all stuffed with pasta and wine.

It was nice, Arthur thought as they migrated from around the table, dishes soaking in the sink for later. It had been a long time since they had all been able to get together.

Gracious as ever they surrendered the two arm chairs to Hunith and Uther. Leon spread out on the loveseat, Morgana sitting in between his legs and half laying on his chest, his arms around her waist. Gwen, Freya and Gwaine had commandeered the two beanbags, while Elyan, Percy and Lance had dragged over three chairs from the dining table. Arthur was sitting on the floor, legs stretched out and Merlin's head on his shoulder.

Arthur tilted his head back, absently stroking Merlin's hair as he listened in to Elyan telling Percy and Lance all about the case he had been working on for the last couple months, the case that was the reason for him missing at least half of the FAT Nights lately. A seemingly simple custody case of a sixteen year old girl whose mother had died had turned into a very confusing case filled with grandparents who were alive, a father who actually did care, blackmail and drugs. In the end Sophia, the girl, had ended up being emancipated but willing to live with her dad.

The more he thought about it the odder it was that everyone was there. Uther and Hunith only really came when specifically invited, Leon should have been over the pond for at least another couple days and if Arthur remembered correctly and Gwaine and Percy, he could have sworn, should have still been in Wales checking out the new bar they were thinking of buying.

Huh. Oh well, just enjoy it, Arthur told himself. Which really wasn't as simple as it seemed considering just who Arthur was. Arthur had an almost inability to let things go, he _had_ to know what was going on, why things were happening. It tended to be a very good thing for his job, he was a DI at Scotland Yard (Lance worked there too, he was Arthur's partner. Gwen too, she worked as a forensic tech), but for everything else it was maddening, both for Arthur and everyone around him.

"Father," he asked, twisting his head around to look at the elder man. "Weren't you supposed to have that dinner with the board tonight?" Uther owned Pendragon Lawyers, Elyan was to be his prodigy and heir for the company (originally that was to be Arthur, but when he showed an obvious disinterest in anything lawyery and Elyan had decided he wanted to be a lawyer, Uther had taken his son's friend under his wing).

Uther gave him a look that Arthur couldn't read. "Am I not allowed to have dinner with my children and family?" he asked.

"Well, yes… of course you… I just mean…" Arthur stammered out, flushing slightly as everyone looked on curiously. He broke off with a pout when he realised that his father was messing with him.

"It was rescheduled," Uther said simply.

"Don't you…" Arthur began. Uther owned the company, which meant that _he_ , and sometimes his assistant, scheduled those things… which meant that _Uther_ had rescheduled it. And Leon…

"Leon, how come you're back early. Morgana was complaining that by the time you got back she would already be on a plane to Italy." Morgana had her own fashion line and spent half her time in London and the other half hopping from Italy to Paris to New York and a few places in between.

Leon gave a small shrug. "Got done early and figured I'd surprise Morgs."

Morgana gave a pleased smile and pressed a kiss to Leon's cheek before snuggling deeper into his arms.

"Right," Arthur said, unconvinced and more than a little suspicious.

"What about you two, then?" he asked Percy and Gwaine. "What happened to Wales?"

"Going next week," Percy said convincingly.

Or at least it would have been convincing if Gwaine hadn't, at the exact same time, said. "Decided against it," before glancing at Merlin.

There was an uncomfortable silence before, "Oh hell."

"Merlin?" Arthur asked, his hand stilling in Merlin's hair.

"I asked them to come, Arthur." Merlin said, turning to look up at Arthur.

"Okay," Arthur said slowly. "But that doesn't explain why they couldn't just say that."

"He didn't tell us why either," Gwaine pitched in, shutting up when Freya kicked his leg and Gwen swatted at his arm.

Merlin mumbled something.

"What was that?" Arthur asked.

"I said, no time like the present," Merlin repeated, no longer leaning on Arthur but sitting up on his knees. "And I asked them to come because I thought our whole family should be here to see this."

Arthur chanced a glance up at everyone else, who seemed just as clueless as he did. "See what?"

The beginnings of a flush rose up Merlin's neck. "Me making an idiot of myself," he said decidedly.

"You're already an idiot, Merlin. What the hell is going on?"

"I… well," not that he seemed to have to do whatever it was he was doing Merlin was a lot less confident. He shuffled a bit forward so he was directly in front of Arthur and took a deep breath. "wiloumarme?"

Arthur frowned in confusion, out of the corner of his eye he saw Hunith and Morgana wearing identical smiles. Uther had a small smile on his face, one Arthur equated to when something reminded him of Ygraine.

"What?" Arthur said, attempting to translate Merlin-speak into common English.

"Iloarme?"

"Merlin," he said, shaking his head slightly. "What the hell are you trying to say?"

A small noise emanated from Merlin's throat and he abandoned speaking to reach into a pocket. "Oh Gods," he whispered before shoving his free hand into his other pocket. "Oh gods, ohgods, ohgods… where did I put it? I can't believe I lost the damned thing… ohgods… I only went to the bloody jewellers today… _you idiot Merlin_ … can't even do this right…"

Freya and Gwen both gasped while both Morgana and Hunith started laughing. When Arthur looked up he was grateful to see that Leon, Gwaine, Lance, Percy and Elyan, at least, were as clueless as he was.

Arthur had no clue what was going on but he _did_ know his boyfriend. "Is it your coat?" he asked.

Merlin's head shot up from where he was rummaging fruitlessly in his pockets. Once again he grabbed Arthur's face in his hands and planted a kiss on his lips before springing to his feet. "I knew I was going to ask you to marry me for a reason," he said with a blinding smile before disappearing from the room.

Arthur blinked.

Around him Gwen and Freya joined Hunith and Morgana in their hysterical laughing while the all the guys looked stunned.

" _Oh, FUCK!_ " Merlin's voice yelled from outside the room, he had evidently realised what he had said. A moment later he re-entered the room looking more than a little sheepish and threw a small box at Arthur's chest before burying his face in his hands.

On pure reflex Arthur caught the box looking up from it in confusion to Merlin, his gorgeous Merlin who is standing in the middle of the room facing Arthur with his face hidden in his hands. Arthur could tell that Merlin's pale skin had turned a bright red beneath his hands and gods if that doesn't make him look adorable. Of course, to Arthur, Merlin _always_ looks adorable. Whether it's when he's splayed out beneath Arthur looking utterly wrecked, chest heaving and cheeks flushed or when he's dressed in one of the £500 plus suits that Morgana has bought and insisted he wear (which really, it shouldn't be able for anyone to look adorable in but Merlin happens to manage it anyway, and hell does it drive Arthur crazy that he does). Merlin even manages to look adorable when he's staring into Arthur's eyes through hooded lids, his mouth red and swollen, lips wrapped around Arthur with his tongue teasing the sl…

… _ask you to marry me…_ Arthur thought in a very delayed way.

Oh. _OH._

Arthur, with slightly shaking hands, opened the box. Inside it sat two silver bands, one slightly larger than the other. _Rings_.

" _Mer_ lin," Arthur said, unable to keep the smile off his face as he stood up. "That has _got_ to be one of the most pathetic proposals in the history of… of forever."

"That's not a no, is it?" Merlin asked, his voice muffled by his hands.

Arthur grinned as he placed the larger ring on his finger before reaching out to tug Merlin's hands away from his face. Arthur had been completely right, Merlin's face was a brilliant red. He shook his head in amusement, sliding the smaller ring onto Merlin's finger.

Merlin eyes flickered between Arthur's hand, his own hand and Arthur's face.

"Soooo, really…" he asked tentatively. "Us, yes?"

"Yes, Merlin," Arthur said, contemplating whether or not he should be worried about how rapidly Merlin's face was paling when suddenly Merlin's body was colliding with his and he was stumbling back from the force of having a full grown man, even one as skinny and light as Merlin, thrown at him.

"Idiot," he murmured, his lips and words mostly lost in Merlin's hair.

"Your idiot," he got back feeling Merlin's lips moving against his neck.

Arthur laughed, hugging Merlin closer as their family laughed at the absurdity that was his boyfrie… _fiancé_. Maybe pasta for FAT Night wasn't such a bad thing after all, he had certainly won this round.

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed it.**

 **If you have any suggestions or request I would be happy to comply an attempt to do them justice. I'll post more when I think of them/finish the ones I've got going.**

 **-Nita**


	2. Germany for Beer, Shagging and Chocolate

**YAY! second one :)**

 **I actually came up with, mostly wrote and finished this one first.**

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"What's the difference between white tulips and cream ones again?" Arthur asked with a yawn, not looking up from the laptop balanced on his knees.

He was sitting cross-legged in an armchair, an empty mug of coffee wedged between his thighs and pressing up against his crotch. He knew Merlin was laying on the floor in a pair of ancient jeans and one of Arthur's old footy jerseys.

 _Five more minutes and then sleep_ , he thought to himself despite knowing that Morgana and probably Gwen would be on their cases at lunch if he and Merlin hadn't gone over everything.

It was pretty ridiculous in Arthur's opinion, this whole getting married lark. He loved Merlin, Merlin loved him; so why the hell did they have to have some crazy big ceremony and an even crazier big reception to prove it. They had been best friends since before either could remember, they had spent more nights in the same bed than not, they had never even so much as _kissed_ anyone else (and, no, Gwaine jumping on either of them under the mistletoe or when drunk did not count).

To be honest getting married hadn't even been their idea in the first place. It had been Gwen's fault. Probably. And Morgana's. And a little bit of Leon's too.

Lance and Gwen had gotten married some years back after dating for only a few months, but that didn't really matter because it was obvious to everyone that they were made for each other. Gwaine was fond of saying that the only two people more suited to each other than Gwen and Lance were Merlin and Arthur. Gwen was now very pregnant with the first mini-Lance or mini-Gwen.

Morgana and Leon were also married. That had been more of a shock in the sense that only Arthur had seen it coming, but that was only because Leon had requested his permission before dating and then proposing to her (not that Morgana required Arthur's permission to do anything but because Leon was very proper in that way). But after the shock had worn off and all the relevant questions had been asked they had all seen how good they were together. Morgana was absolutely mad for Leon and Leon had some magical way of mellowing Morgana out.

Arthur and Merlin on the other hand, while still crazy in love after so many years, and had been living together since university and were practically married anyway, neither had done anything to move their relationship forward from, in the view of the public, to two blokes who lived together and, to the not so public, were very much in love and had mind blowing sex (although that last part was mostly Gwen, Morgana and Gwaine gossiping). All that had mattered to them was that they knew they loved each other and that their friends (who were their family) knew it. Making it official in the government's view had never been a point of interest for them.

And then the laws had changed making it possible for same-sex marriages to be allowed.

 _Arthur had been in the kitchen with Leon and Gwen (Merlin, Morgana and Gwaine were banned from cooking; the former two because they had burnt water in the past, Merlin making tea and Morgana boiling pasta and the latter because he had a tendency to experiment with some less palatable combinations) when Gwen had brought it up._

 _It was just another of their 'let's all gather in Merlin and Arthur's because they have the best apartment', (and they kind of did; it was close to where everyone else lived, everyone felt at home there because it had been Merlin and Arthur's for over a decade and because there was room enough for everyone in case they all crashed there, they all even had a spare set of clothes there)._

" _So when are you and Merlin getting married, Arthur?" Gwen had oh-so innocently asked, placing the first apple pie in the oven._

 _Arthur frowned at the stove, spatula in hand, before shrugging his shoulders. "Dunno," he said. "Never really thought about it."_

" _But you can now," Morgana pointed out from where she was sitting on the other side of the counter, chewing on a slice of tomato._

" _I know," Arthur said and switched the spatula for a wooden rolling pin to roll out more dough._

" _Merlin and I are good," he said eventually. When both Morgana and Gwen stared at him Arthur sighed. "We love each other," he explained simply. "We know that, you lot know that, anyone else who matters to us knows."_

" _But don't you want to be able to say you're married?" Leon asked from where he was rooting around in the fridge._

" _Why?" Arthur asked, transferring a flat bread from the pan to the already large, foil covered stack on a plate. "It's just a word and a bit of paper, nothing's going to change."_

" _It is more than that," Morgana shrieking in horror slamming a hand onto the marble counter top to make her point, her rings clanging loudly against the marble bench top._

" _It's about showing everyone how much you love the person you're marrying," Gwen said in agreement. "It's about making a commitment to stay with that person, no matter what, for the rest of your lives. It's about being able to call Merlin,_ the man you love _," – she waved her spoon at Arthur's face – "your husband."_

 _Arthur stared at the two with a healthy dose of apprehension. "Alright," he said slowly. "One; like I said before anyone that matters to Merlin and I already knows that Merlin and I love each other, you lot take a scary amount of pleasure in pointing it out. Two; really?" Arthur asked, making_ his _point by counting it on his fingers for them all to see. "Merlin stayed with me even after bloody Agravaine tried to bribe and then blackmailed him into leaving me. And then I stayed with Merlin even after he broke my heart and tried to leave me for what he deludedly thought was my own good." Arthur ignored the other's winces at his cavalier reference to what was probably the worst point in both his and Merlin's lives._

" _And three; it's_ just _a word," he finished, turning back to the stove._

 _When he turned around again to check on the rice some minutes later both Morgana and Gwen were staring at him._

" _What?" he whined._

 _When neither answered he turned to Leon who raised his hands in a 'you're on your own, mate' kind of way._

" _Oh, for the love of…" he grumbled under his breath. Stalking across the kitchen he leaned over the counter to get a proper look in to the main room where Merlin, Gwaine, Elyan, Lance and Percy were. The latter three were sitting together and talking quietly while the former two appeared to be fighting over something or another as they rolled around on the floor._

"Mer _lin," he yelled to be heard over Merlin and Gwaine's ridiculous argument and the music playing in the background._

" _What Arthur?" Merlin yelled back from under Gwaine, spluttering slightly as Gwaine's long hair fell in his mouth as they grappled._

" _Do you wanna get married?" Arthur asked flatly._

 _In the kitchen Morgana and Gwen gave a weird combination of a whimper and shriek while Leon chuckled softly. Elyan, Lance and Percy all looked up in curiosity. Gwaine and Merlin stopping fighting, Gwaine straddling Merlin's waist as he restrained Merlin arms above his head by his wrists. To anyone else that particular sight would probably have been worrying, but that was just how Merlin and Gwaine had always been with each other._

 _Merlin blinked at Arthur in the sudden silence that had fallen._

" _Yeah. Alright then, prat," he said nonchalantly before giving Arthur a massive grin, the kind that made Arthur want to melt into a puddle of goo, bounce off the walls as if he were high on coffee and shag Merlin until they were exhausted all at the same time._

 _Arthur smiled crookedly back at his new_ fiancé _. Then he swore, because he had forgotten a bread on the pan and it was turning to charcoal._

 _A second later Gwaine shrieked because Merlin had craned his neck, lifting his head so he could lick a stripe along Gwine's face which resulted in Merlin being released, allowing him to stick his hand into Gwaine's pocket, retrieving whatever they had been fighting over. Arthur later learned it had been a crayon and they had been playing hangman._

 _The next day Morgana and Leon had gone with Arthur while Lance and Gwaine went with Merlin to pick out engagement rings._

Needless to say both Gwen and Morgana had been suitably horrified by how they had gotten engaged and had vowed to make sure that the wedding more than made up for it. Between their jobs and the fact that didn't really care, and never had to begin with, neither men bothered to stop them organising the whole damned thing for them. Unfortunately that hadn't stopped them from including Merlin and Arthur in it all, getting their opinions on anything and everything and making sure that they knew about everything as it happened.

Which was why Merlin was currently sprawled out on their bedroom floor looking at table arrangements while Arthur was looking at flowers at almost midnight on a Wednesday.

"Merlin?" he asked again, looking up when he realised that he had never gotten an answer to his question. He was about to ask again, and maybe throw a cushion, when he noticed that Merlin was not stretched out anymore but was sitting up, his back against the wall and knees drawn to his chest as he fiddled with the simple silver band around his finger.

"I can't do this," Merlin blurted quietly.

Arthur felt worse than he had all those years ago when Merlin had left him. Like he had been sucker punched in the gut, his chest felt completely empty save for the pounding of his heart, he was lightheaded and there was a strange ringing in his ears.

"You can't," Arthur parroted thickly, not that Merlin heard him.

"I'm sorry," Merlin muttered and Arthur could see him shaking. "I can't, I can't…"

Arthur felt sick and knew that tears were falling down his face.

"You…" he had to take a deep breathe before continuing. It was killing him to say it out loud but he had to hear it. "You don't want to marry me," he said in a strangled whisper. As much as he had denied even thinking about it to Morgana and Gwen, once the idea had gotten into his head there hadn't been anything he had ever wanted more in his life.

" _What_ ," Merlin yelped, finally looking up from his ring. His panic disappearing the instant he saw the absolute heartbreak written all over Arthur's face.

"No, no, no, nononononono…" Merlin repeated word turning into one long humming sound as he scrambled to his feet. "Shit, Arthur," he cursed.

In his haste to get to Arthur the laptop got shoved of the blonde's knees and was sent to the floor with a soft thud. The empty mug following a moment later as Merlin dropped himself unceremoniously onto Arthur's lap. Merlin's instrument roughened hands cupped Arthur's face as Merlin dropped feather light kisses on lips, on his cheeks, on his eyelids, down the tears tracks on his face, everywhere; all the while keeping up whispered stream of curses and 'no's.

"I love you," he whispered. "So much and always. I love you," Merlin was also crying, their tears mixing in salty mess. "I love you, Arthur. I do want to marry you."

The words sank in a Arthur gave relieved sob, Merlin immediately gathering him in his arms until Arthur's face was buried in Merlin's neck, Merlin's long fingers tugging almost painfully on his golden hair.

"I want to marry you," Merlin repeated once they had both calmed down, although he was still in Arthur's lap and not in any hurry to move. "I do, so much. It's just all this I can't do. I never wanted it and it's all too much and I can't… The flowers and cake choosing and food and music and seating arrangements and the colours and the suits and the…"

Arthurs could feel Merlin's panic rising rapidly and was quick to drop a kiss onto Merlin's nose, finally understanding. "It's okay," he said calmly, trying to project his own calmness onto Merlin. "I understand. It's okay, just breathe." He fumbled to grab one of Merlin's hands and press it against his own chest, just over his heart. "That's it, love," he encouraged. "Just breath with me, you're fine." He guided Merlin's head down so that their foreheads were pressed together and kept up the stream of inane murmurings. "In and out, nice and slow. I've got you."

"Thank you," Merlin whispered finally, tiredly burrowing his face into Arthur's neck.

Arthur gave a small hum in acknowledgement. "Bed," he said softly, gently manoeuvring Merlin off his lap but keeping him in his arms. It was only after they were tucked up in bed, stripped down to their boxers with Merlin half on Arthur and tucked under the blonde's chin, did he ask.

"Merlin?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper in case Merlin was already asleep.

"Hmmmm," Merlin hummed, his face pressed into Arthur's chest.

"If you didn't want any of this, why didn't you say anything?"

Merlin tilted his head up to look at Arthur. "I thought you did, that's why," he said simply in his 'you are such an oblivious idiot sometimes but I love you anyway' tone.

"But I thought you wanted it," Arthur said stupidly.

Merlin shook his head, his longish black locks tickling Arthur.

And then they were both laughing at what idiots they had been.

"Maybe we should run away and do it, yeah?" Arthur said a little while later, a hand carding through Merlin's hair. "Just find a small courthouse get it over and done with and then go to that little bed and breakfast in Germany and do nothing but shag and drink beer and eat chocolate for a week… maybe two…"

Merlin grinned, pressing a soft kiss to Arthur's neck. "Sounds perfect," he murmured, his hand stilling from where it was tracing patterns on Arthur's chest. "But Morgana and Gwen would kill us if we deprived them of the chance from planning our wedding."

Arthur made a noise at the back of his throat in agreement with a small scowl, barely noticing when Merlin suddenly flipped up so that he was straddling his waist, pinning his arms over his head.

"Doesn't mean we can't go to Germany for the honeymoon, though," he said, nipping up Arthur's neck.

Arthur moaned, tilting his head back to give Merlin better access. "God yes," he breathed, flipping them over and returning the favour.

Merlin snuffed a laugh when Arthur yawned into his neck mid-kiss. "Sleep," he commanded, tugging at Arthur, manoeuvring them back into their original position.

Once Arthur was sure that Merlin wouldn't wake up he pressed a kiss into his soft black hair and slid out from under Merlin, carefully getting up from the bed and muffling a laugh with his hand when Merlin automatically burrowed his face in Arthur's pillow. Swiping his laptop up from the floor he also made sure to grab both their phones before flopping onto their couch.

After quickly firing off two not very polite emails to Morgana and Gwen he wrote another two, less harsh, emails to Lance and Leon, politely requesting they get their wives to back the hell off because they were sending Merlin into panic attacks and driving Arthur beyond spare. He then composed another two, the first to his PA saying he wouldn't be in for the next three days and to send anything urgent to Morgana, and the second to Gaius saying pretty much the same about Merlin. He then switched both their phones off (after sending Lance a text asking him to tell the others to leave him and Merlin alone for a couple days, and if he could maybe please stock their fridge with a few basics while he got Merlin away from everything once they woke up) and stuck them in the vase that had mysteriously turned up in their flat one day.

Satisfied that they wouldn't be bothered for at least 72 hours he slipped back into bed, curling around the younger man and pressing his nose into the back of Merlin's neck before falling asleep.

* * *

 **Right, so there's that.**

 **-Nita**


End file.
